FRODO.EXE
I had always been a big "Lord of the Rings" fan, ever since I was 11: I had seen all the movies, owned at least 2 copies of the first 3, owned all 3 parts of "The Hobbit", plus the old Rankin-Bass cartoons, and a shit-load of posters, books (Both original and extra), clothes, bags, toys and games, and other various miscellaneous stuff, mainly things with Frodo, or any of the hobbits. But mostly Frodo, my crush since the 6th grade. Of course, no matter how many times my family and friends told me, enough wasn’t enough. Therefore, I would shop on Amazon and Ebay constantly for anything Frodo Baggins, and sometimes would have the luck to find something cheap. Either way, I WAS on eBay the other day, when I saw this at the top of the search results: ”RARE 2001 LOTR FOTR CD-ROM GAME BY SEGA” SEGA had made a LOTR game? I hadn’t heard of that one, seeing as I had played most of the LOTR games, some I enjoyed, some I didn’t. Well, I was a big SEGA fan, a little more than Nintendo, despite that being a bigger part of my childhood, but either way, curiosity got the better of me, and I bought it for $3.98. The next day, it arrived, miraculously from New Zealand, which excited me greatly. I had never been to New Zealand (I didn’t have the money for it), but promised myself I would someday. Filled with happiness, I ripped open the foolishly big box and pulled out the game. It was in a regular case, like a Sims game case, with a picture of Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Gandalf and Aragorn on it, with the LOTR logo above them, and the SEGA logo at the bottom. Strangely, there was no back cover it, and it didn’t look like anyone had cut or ripped it off. Maybe that was how it was supposed to be? While waiting for my computer to boot itself out of bed, I got myself a snack: Warm mushrooms with leftover fondue from the night before, and a glass of Dr. Pepper. Returning, I entered my password and placed the game in, my heart racing happily as I sipped my soda and ate my food. The classic installation message came up (My computer is an old Microsoft thing from the 90’s or so), but instead of saying “Lord of the Rings” or anything like that, it read “FRODO . exe” I then put on my pondering Sherlock face, and a smirk grew. This was a TRICK pulled by that dude I bought the game from. I’m not an idiot, I’ve read “Sonic . exe”, so I wasn’t fooled. Still curious, however, I downloaded the game, and it came onscreen quicker than usual. It asked if I wanted an icon shortcut for it, and I agreed. Apparently, the icon was a bloodstained One Ring, and I chuckled, eating another ‘shroom. The “SEGA!” jingle rang, and almost immediately, I was brought to the “Sonic The Hedgehog” title screen, but instead, Frodo was there, in the same position as Sonic usually was (One finger up, a smirk, you know the drill), with Sauron’s eye in the sky and Mount Doom in the background. Pressing enter, the screen flashed darkly, with a very demonic, “Sonic . exe” esque Frodo, grinning evilly at me with bloodstained teeth. “Classy, bro,” I smirked wisely, propping my feet up on the desk as I finished my soda. Still thirty, I returned to the kitchen and poured myself more soda. Returning to my bedroom, I found the save screen from STH 3, just like that creepypasta. However, there were 3 empty save files, not 3 files with some hapless Fellowship characters, awaiting doom by a possessed Frodo. Shrugging, I clicked on the first file, which allowed me to enter my name, which I did. Once I had, it brought me to a black screen, with the words “BEAUTIFULWOMAN, ACT 1” in the “Green Hill Zone” style. Looking to the screen, I gasped. The sprite wasn’t Frodo. It was me. It was literally me, with my red hair, pale skin with freckles, green eyes, everything. Hell, my sprite even had on my “FUCK ELEMENTARY, EVERYDAY I’M SHERLOCKIN’” t-shirt, jeans, and Converse on. Of course, it was 16-bit, but I was still sure it was me. Unnerved but ready, I began to move my sprite along, picking up speed. The background was the Shire, happy and bright as always, and it comforted me. Dashing past the hobbit holes, I felt pretty comfy with this game, it was kinda fun. The music was odd, though: It sounded like a combination between the Shire music from the movie, combined with the Green Hill Zone theme. It made me think back to the title screen, with its music. It had sounded like the title music of the movie with the STH menu theme. Suddenly, I noticed a little “interact” sign, and I realized I could interact with the hobbit-hole I thought I recognized as Bag End. Entering, I found myself inside, and that I could explore. Doing so, I searched for any sign of Frodo or Bilbo. Sam wasn’t even out in the garden, which surprised me. And just as I decided that maybe this wasn’t Bag End, I noticed a Frodo sprite appear suddenly by mine, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. Curious, I moved my sprite towards him cautiously, but as I got the closest, he opened his eyes, as the screen turned black. Text appeared in white, reading, ”Hello. What is your name?” A name entry appeared, and after some consideration, I typed my name into the bar and pressed enter. “That’s a gorgeous name. Tell me, how old are you?” I was 22, and I entered it in, only for the reply to come in. “Oh, does age particularly matter? All I think that matters is that you’re here…and I’m here…alone…” “Buryman much?” I asked, as the level name, “HELPME, ACT 2” appeared. I found my sprite in Rivendell, except it was completely empty: No elves, no Fellowship, no Elrond, nobody. I was confused, thinking this game would be violent and freaky like whatever it was based on. Wandering around for a bit, I exited Rivendell and appeared in Weathertop, rain pelted down upon my sprite, who looked as genuinely confused as I did. Walking up to the highest peak, I was shocked at the following cutscene. It was a cutscene of Frodo digging into his shoulder wound and pulling out the Nazgul blade, holding it in his blood-covered hands as he stood over the Witch-King, who, for a Ringwraith, looked terrified. Frodo merely grinned insanely as he plunged the blade into the Witch-King’s face repeatedly, his other hand wrapped around the creature’s neck, squeezing, as if choking him to death. After 3 minutes of this, the Witch-King lay dead, bloody and decrepit as Frodo turned to face the other Ringwraiths, who screamed horrid screams as Frodo attacked them with their own weapons. One of them, hurrying away from the massacre, ran to me and spoke in broken English, “Help me, help me,” grabbing my sprite’s shoulders and shaking them, but as he did, he was pulled away by Frodo, and brutally murdered. When the final Ringwraith was killed, Frodo began to gather up their pools of blood in his hands and drip it into his mouth, drinking the blood like it was water. My sprite began to back away, looking horrified, but then Frodo turned to face her, as the screen faded black once more. This sickened me. I don’t know why, but it did. Maybe it was because it was Frodo, the character I had loved so much, for most of my life. Feeling heartbroken, and with tears in my eyes, the name “KINGANDQUEEN, ACT 3” showed up. My sprite was missing, with only Frodo standing before me, a full, bloody grin on his face. The text box that appeared when he spoke was broken and so fucked-up, as was his dialogue, so I couldn’t really understand. But then suddenly, he began to walk towards me slowly, coming closer and closer, until he was so close, I could practically feel his hot breath near me. And that’s just when the screen went to black, and the error message came up, reading, “FRODO . exe has encountered a problem that needs to be fixed. Shall we fix it for you?” Thankful, I agreed and clicked “YES”, returning me to my desktop. Quickly, I took the disc out and put it back in the case, stuffing it away into my box of video games and planning on never touching it again. Exhausted from shock, I bundled a blanket around me, shut off my CPU, took my bowls and cup into the kitchen, and relaxed in front of the TV, flipping on an episode of “What Would YOU Do?” I don’t know how many hours I watched the episodes, but all I know is that it was dark out when I finished the last recorded episode. Hungry, I had myself a slice of pizza for dinner, watched some “20/20”, and then headed off to bed. Somehow, surprisingly, after that freaky game, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Hours passed, as I rested on in a dreamless sleep filled with soft, quiet static. Wait…that wasn’t from my brain. It sounded like I had left my computer on, but I hadn’t. I had made sure I shut it off. Opening my eyes and glancing over, I saw something most horrifying. Frodo was crawling out of my computer screen, Ring-esque covered in crimson and grinning madly as he finally got himself out, and when he did, the computer shut off, smoking dangerously. From that point, he began to stalk towards my bed, making me shiver and squeak with fear. “Oh, now, now, darling,” He soothed, crawling over me and brushing a strand of hair out of my face. “You’ll be all right in just a few HOURS.” He got closer to me, and before I could react, he crushed his lips up against mine, his slimy, rough tongue exploring the inside of my mouth. As he did, his hands traveled all over my body, rubbing me and massaging me and grabbing me, acting like we knew each other. He suddenly bit my lip, and I shrieked as he pulled away, licking my blood off his lips as I saw more blood run from my wound. He pulled me closer again, hugging me tightly and grinning at me, his eyes filled with no mercy. “Ready?” He asked, and I didn’t even have time to answer. … … … … … … … Ms. Kirsten Scholtes was reported missing on June 14th, 2022, from her Portland, Oregon apartment. Her whereabouts are currently unknown at this time, and the only clue authorities have is a note left on her computer screen, which reads “MYQUEEN, ACT ???” ---- Written by WAtSoNWARRIORrInGbEaReR1313